AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Endless becoming apartment1/18/2024 ![]() ![]() Former office buildings also tend to come with ample parking and other large spaces that can be put to new uses. “We’re maybe halfway through” converting adaptable Jamison buildings, Jaime Lee said.Īlthough it can cost millions of dollars to convert a high-rise office to apartments, it’s cheaper than erecting a new building from the ground up. So far, Jamison has converted seven office buildings to residential use with a combined total of more than 1,200 units, nearly all of which are leased. And, “a creative, vibrant neighborhood requires more housing.” A television feature about local cuisine by popular chef Anthony Bourdain that year helped cement the neighborhood’s reputation as a happening place, Jaime Lee said. Texaco, later absorbed by Chevron Corp., announced in 1985 that it would sell the property and move to a new skyscraper in Universal City.īy 2013, the area’s diversity was drawing favorable attention from a younger crowd not burdened by unsavory impressions of its past. Offices in the Wilshire neighborhood fell out of favor with the city’s business leaders in the latter decades of the 20th century as many decamped to fresher buildings in other parts of the city. Jamison had the advantage of owning buildings in a part of the city that was economically recovering due in large part to the expansion of Korean American businesses and residents who had adopted a central swath of the city left behind by corporate decision makers and longtime white residents. County is the lowest it’s been in two decades. The number of apartments available for rent in L.A. “We thought we were on to something.”įor Subscribers Finding a place to rent in Los Angeles has become a competitive sport The Westmore, as the Borax building is now known, was quickly rented to law students, young professionals and some retirees, Jaime Lee said. “Much to our surprise,” Jaime Lee said, “we leased them all in three months.” Jamison turned the former Borax building into 127 apartments. It was, however, also designed by Welton Becket and located across the boulevard from the Art Deco landmark Bullocks Wilshire department store building now occupied by Southwestern Law School. Citing rising crime as one of the reasons, Borax left for Valencia in the early 1990s and the building was not much of a draw for business renters in the years that followed. Borax on Wilshire Boulevard dating to 1963. In 2013, Jamison took a chance on converting the use of one of its office towers, the former headquarters of U.S. He went on to acquire many other large commercial buildings in the Los Angeles area and became one of the region’s largest commercial landlords, later expanding into developing new residential projects including the luxury Circa apartments downtown and Kurve on Wilshire near Koreatown. The elder Lee is an internist and immigrant from South Korea who bought up struggling office high-rises in Koreatown after the 1992 Los Angeles civil uprising depressed their values. “It’s just that people don’t have the vision.”Īmong those who’ve taken on conversions at a large scale are Jaime and Garrett Lee, two leaders of the Jamison real estate empire founded by their father, David Lee. “There are opportunities everywhere,” Liljegren said, such as small office buildings on less-traveled streets. ![]() She specializes in conversions and is bedeviled by what she sees driving around L.A. and Koreatown, where the Crosby stands, have concentrations of tall, aging office towers suitable for housing but many other candidates are less obvious, architect Karin Liljegren said. Saks Fifth Avenue, one of Beverly Hills’ most famous department stores, is set to move to make way for a mixed-use complex that could energize a sedate stretch of Wilshire Boulevard near Rodeo Drive. Business Beverly Hills’ historic Saks Fifth Avenue complex set for development into offices and apartments ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |